Dismantling the European Union

A virus is spreading across Europe. In fact, it has been for some time now, exacerbated by the Great Recession and the painfully slow recovery. The U.K. had a chance to fight the virus, maybe even give European leaders a stronger foothold in the fight, so they could say: “We’re in this together.”

But Britain failed.

Now the contagion has strengthened enough to spread unchecked across the EU.

The Brexit vote wasn’t just about the U.K. leaving the EU. All of Europe was closely watching the vote, waiting for it to succeed so that various party leaders would have the green light to start shouting for their own referendum.

As of Friday morning, the shouting was quite loud:

In France, National Front party leader Marine Le Pen is demanding a referendum be put before the people on whether France should leave the EU.

In the Netherlands, polls are showing that a majority of voters want a referendum.

In the Czech Republic, pressure has started to mount for politicians to offer a referendum to citizens on the country’s future in the EU.

In Italy, the leader of the anti-establishment Five Star Movement — which recently gained ground in mayoral elections — is demanding a referendum on whether Italy should continue to use the euro.

In Denmark, the leader of the country’s far-right People’s Party has stated that Denmark needs to hold its own referendum on EU membership. This has also raised concerns that if Denmark votes, Sweden could soon follow.

Greece — which not too long ago dodged Grexit — could reconsider a move to leave the EU, or at the very least, pressure for more financial leniency as it tries to pull its economy back together.

This is the start of a potentially long and hard road for Europe, as Germany and many other leaders fight to keep the EU together through one referendum vote after another.

The globe also has to fight through the U.K.’s leaving process — and we all know this is going to be a long, ugly breakup.

With the increased volatility in the market, it is critical that you add more gold to your portfolio to help diversify your holdings. Too many investors believe this means just picking up the gold exchange-traded fund, but that is not enough. It’s important that you invest in physical gold.

Don’t worry. It’s not that hard. In fact, I’ve got three easy options for you when it comes to adding physical gold to your holdings:

You can open an account within the U.S. that allows you to purchase gold or silver coins or bars. You even have the option of participating in an automatic purchase plan that starts at just $100 per month. To learn more, click here.

A third option is to open an account with New Zealand Vault, which will allow you to purchase gold through the Perth Mint and store your gold offshore. To learn more about this option, click here.

With the Brexit vote complete and the dust starting to settle, I would love to also hear from readers. Do you think this is the end of the European Union? Do you think Americans should be concerned about the future of the U.K. and Europe after this vote? You can send me your thoughts at [email protected].